Hello again - I am also a sufferer of CH. This is nothing like migrain pain with no migrain symtoms. My last cycle lasted for 16 weeks - 6 attacks a day. I think I nearly died. Years ago I did have acupuncture for CH - in both sessions (two differnet therapists) I had to pull the needles out and high tail it home because the treatment caused an attack.(the pain hits so fast and furious) Has anyone had any success treating this condition. I have done years of research - i know the attacks involve the hypothalamus, the pineal gland, oculomotor nerve, trigeminal nerve and possibly the trochlear nerve (as my arms go limp) I also know that a small dose of LSD between cycles keeps the hypothalamus ticking (which does not function well during the cycle) and the dose will prevent the cycle kicking in. I am forever looking for any guidiance with this debilitating issue.

The only guidance I can give you is to keep trying acupuncture until you can find the right practitioner for you. Cluster headache is a manageable disorder by acupuncture, and needs to be categorized and diagnosed properly according to Ch. med. differential diagnosis. After done so, needling techniques are of prime importance, and this is why you need to look for a practitioner who has accumulated enough experience treating this disorder.

I would be interested to know which Acupoints were used to aggravate the headaches. I have had lots of experience (tho not recent) in treating CH Migraines etc. If you let us know which points aggravate then it is possible (theoretically and possibly) tell which points to use to stabilise the treatment.

His formulas are very soundly based in traditional concepts and I find them to be worthy of the most respectful consideration.

AnonymousUsername: Cleon

Registered: N/A

Posted on Wednesday, July 08, 2009 - 16:26:

Hello Jan: I cant help you with your question regarding Acupoints. I was so out of it and desperate at the time. I also had no kjnowledge regarding points etc. I am a member of clusterheadaches.com, clusterbusters.com, MAPS, OUCH, - and everyone who suffers CH's is in the same boat as myself - many have tried acupuncture (and everything else!) It seems the answer is to keep that hypothalamus ticking - I just wondered if there were points regarding that part of the brain. Cheers

I agree that the point suggestions of Felix Mann have good reasoning and match most of the possible differentiations of headache in TCM. Yet, make no mistake. Puncturing these points can be effective, for both regular migraine or C.H., ONLY if their selection is done in regards to Ch. differential diagnosis and NOT to hypothalamus, medula oblongata, or other anatomical features relevant to modern medicine, or other physiological patterns and differentiations according to modern anatomy/physiology. Moreover, selecting the right points is not enough to yield, in this case, good therapeutic results. Needle manipulations and techniques that go hand in hand with the diagnosis are of prime importance. If you do this properly, even a stubborn C.H. often gets good clinical results.

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